Chasing Dreams
by Artemis Teilor
Summary: If there was one crew she would have to beat, it was THEM.  When Maree sets sail there's only one thing on her mind - revenge - and no-one was going to stop her. All she wanted was to destroy the pirates who had thrown her life off track; The Straw Hats.
1. A New Era

**Hey Guys!**

**Artemis Teilor is back to bring you a new story in a different section of fanfiction. I still can't believe I'm writing a One Piece fanfic. This is just a bit of a joke between me and my friend who is currently in the process of creating her own crew and story. The idea is we're both writing One Piece fanfics with our own crews and having a laugh about it. A bit of a pre-warning for all you Straw Hat lovers - they will be in the story but they're not central characters; sorry about that. If you want Straw Hats making googoo eyes at OCs, please look elsewhere. I'm really not into that idea.**

**As for now, I hope you enjoy my story.**

**Cheers!**

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><p><strong>Prologue - A New Era<strong>

In the seaside town of Lochsport in East Blue there existed little to be appraised of. The place was a fishing village, fully stocked on ship supplies for those going out on long trips and as such the town was the hub of activity for East Blue pirates. There was a great gathering in the pub when the news came of Whitebeard's death, most especially when all present learnt of the man's final words. Never had most of the pirates believed that the One Piece truly existed, waiting in the Grand Line. From that pub there was a surge of action, and in the weeks that followed all the pirates in the vicinity had set off to the Grand Line.

On a morning one year after the big news, a girl stood at the docks in front of a small ship with the wind blowing her mahogany-brown hair into her face. She ignored the annoying mass as she moved through the paces of untying the small dinghy in front of her looking up at the horizon as the sun rose in the sky, the most important part of her luggage sitting nestled in amongst her possessions. Another girl turned up behind the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl jumped and stopped what she was doing to quickly regain her balance so as to avoid falling off the dock.

"What do you think you're doing Maree?" the visitor enquired and the girl known as Maree exhaled slowly and returned to untying the dinghy.

"What does it look like Alex? I'm setting sail," Maree responded icily, brushing her out of her eyes violently as she reached the final knot holding the small boat to the shore of the land she'd grown up on, "I can't be here anymore, I have to go make something of myself."

"And you're not taking your friend with you? That's cold Maree. I'm hurt," Alex responded clutching at her heart and feigning like she was gonna collapse.

"You have a future here Alex," Maree insisted neglecting the boat and facing her friend, "You could do so much."

"I've seen your maps Maree. You've got a pretty bright future yourself," Alex argued stepping closer to her friend, "besides I'm the one who always wanted to be a pirate. How else can I beat my brother. You can't sail off without me."

"I'm going Alex. If you want to come with me that badly just get in the damn boat."

Alex laughed and shook the duffel she'd been holding the entire time before replying with, "I had no intention of letting you leave without me."

Maree shook her head as her good friend jumped in her cheap little dinghy and she undid the last knot, pushing the boat away from the shore before jumping in herself and smiling. Alex was already sprawled out across the boat, her bag lying right next to Maree's. They smiled at each other as they began attending the ship as it set sail. They weren't sure where they were going yet, but no matter where they went they were shaping their own destinies.

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><p><strong>There you have it. The beginning of my story. I would really appreciate it if you did read to REVIEW! Even if it's an "I hate your guts this story is stupid" sort of review. It's just nice to know that out there someone read my story...<strong>


	2. The Nightmare Pirates

**I've had this written for about a week and only just finished my editing... yeah. I'm a crazy good procrastinator.**

**Be happy that I wrote this with all the amazingly wonderful school work I have to get done.**

**I would also like to thank the reviewers from my prologue: Disciple of Bob, Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin (Sorry I'm not accepting OCs... yet anyway. I may later), Alexis Trivic and Lexie. I appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of One Piece, however I own almost all the characters at the moment...**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - The Nightmare Pirates<strong>

"So after all that map-making you had absolutely no idea how to use a boat," Alex sighed pushing her shoulder-length, light-brown hair behind her ear and sighing, "Sometimes your stupidity amazes even me Maree."

"It's called cartography, and to be fair, Alexis, working a boat is a lot harder than it looks," Maree defended with a pout, "Besides, thanks to my maps, I know where we are."

"I do too. It said on the sign at the dock," Alexis replied scathingly. Sighing inwardly, Alex pushed her newly escaped hair behind her ear again and turned to her friend, "So I think it's pretty much decided that we need to either, join a proper crew that is capable of using a boat or get sailing lessons."

Maree sighed regretfully as she clutched at a duffel bag filled with some of the possessions they had managed to salvage from the sinking ship. Alexis carried a similar one, the same shade of dark green as Maree's, and she proceeded to poke around in the contents every few minutes as they made their way up the main street of Windmill Village. Neither paid any heed to the stores they passed as they moved towards the gloomy, little pub that took up the end of the street. The few people milling in the street moved quickly out of the way of the two strangers, muttering amongst themselves and moving off into the nearby shops.

Alexis swung the door of the small bar wide and Maree moved into the place and off the streets, sighing as she rifled through her bag only to come up with a few crumpled bills. She moved towards the barmaid and ordered a drink each for herself and Alex, before slumping onto the nearest stool and laying her head down on top of the bar. Soon enough, two drinks were placed in front of the girl and the barmaid moved swiftly away to attend to polishing the glasses. Alex took the stool next to her friend and groaned, downing her beverage in a single gulp.

"Great start to our adventure right?" Alexis stated sarcastically in a sorry attempt to lighten the mood, whilst casually leaning against the bar. Maree snorted into her own drink and placed the glass on the table as she began to cough, Alex carefully whacking her on the back.

"I'll say that our beginning was splendid," Maree agreed equalling Alexis' sarcasm with her own when she was finally able to form a coherent sentence, "No encounters with pirates or anything."

"I mean we're only down a boat and some possessions," Alexis contributed lightly, still imposing a heavy amount of sarcasm on each syllable, "so we're doing pretty well."

Maree snickered as she picked the drink up again and took a swig, Alexis chuckling as well as she enquired about lodgings of the barmaid. The response was halting, but soon enough, Alexis negotiated a room for the night for the both of them as a man burst through the door and doubled over panting.

"Pirates!" He managed to choke out before the door was slammed open behind him and he moved away, shaking. The barmaid stopped polishing the glasses as she looked the newcomer over whilst he moved into the room.

The man was well built - a fact that wasn't hard to distinguish as he was moving around with his abs on display - with what appeared to be a marine coat wrapped around his shoulders. A sword was situated at the hip of his black cargo pants and he fingered it unconsciously as he looked around the room, assessing the situation with his cautious blue eyes. He flicked his long black hair to the left side of his face and walked over to the bar to order a drink, his boots clicking on the wooden floor. The barmaid moved swiftly around the bar to prepare his drink and Maree and Alexis simply glanced him over from their end of the bar.

"Tool," Maree scoffed under her breath, finishing her drink quickly as the man's eyes perked. He whirled on the teen sitting down the bar from him with fire in his eyes.

"Pardon?" the man enquired scathingly, "Was there something you wanted to say?"

Maree slammed the glass down on the bar and turned to the arrogant male down the bar from her, she smiled devilishly at his surprise. Alexis appraised the boy as well, realising he was probably the same age as the pair of them were and thinking idly of where he could of developed his overconfidence. Shocked at the response from the pair the bay got up and travelled down the pair until he was standing over the girls with a dark expression on his face.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" He asked coldly, looking down on the girls.

"Hey Maree, you made the guy mad," Alex called over her shoulder as her friend looked back at her, victorious, "now he's uncomfortably close and trying to get us all kicked out of the bar."

"Hey Sora-san, Nicholas said he was gonna do some shopping - not that there's much around here for him to get - and Aaron went with him to stock up on the medical supplies before Jesse tries to blow himself up again. I think they dragged Jesse along so that he wouldn't destroy the ship while we're docked here," A tall blonde-haired girl prattled off as she walked in the door to the bar before looking at her captain standing murderously over the two females, "seriously Sora-san? We've only been in the town for five minutes and you're picking trouble? Didn't you and I have a discussion about this before we docked? I know you're the captain but you've really got to start acting like it."

"She insulted me," Sora growled, barely looking up to acknowledge his crewmate, and she sighed her crimson eyes glowing in the bar's dim light. She petted the young captain on the head patronisingly and he cringed under her touch. Maree began to laugh and would have fallen off the stool she was on if Alexis hadn't grabbed her hand quickly and helped her regain her balance. Sora turned to yell at his crewmate and Alexis caught sight of the symbol on the back of his coat, a jolly roger nestled into a crescent moon. She thought for a moment as recognition flickered into her eyes, she turned to her friend, whose eyes had caught sight of something behind the bar.

"Is that Straw Hat Luffy?" She asked excitedly pointing at the wanted poster behind the barmaid. She turned in shock and nodded once and Maree's eyes hardened a moment.

"This was his hometown," the barmaid explained with a small smile. Maree stood swiftly and moved out of the bar, the arguing pirates following her with their eyes as the door slammed shut behind her. Alexis groaned and picked up both of the duffel bags, following her friend from the bar and moving in the direction of the beach.

She moved swiftly, stopping in front of Maree and holding out one of the duffel bags and Maree glared at the object as if its very existence was offensive. Alexis sighed and dropped the items onto the ground, grabbing her friends shoulders as she looked away.

"Maree, please look at me," Alexis begged her friend who remained staring fixedly into the distance, "Hometown or not, Straw Hat's not here. He's out there, and we'll get him. Just like you want okay?"

Maree looked up at Alexis with a smile, picking up her bag from the ground and offering the other to Alexis. Alex smiled and received the bag gratefully, directing her friend back towards the town.

"I need to blow off some steam. This day has royally sucked and I need to blow it off,"Maree announced suddenly, and Alexis smiled, after all she shared similar sentiments, "I wonder if the arrogant kid from the bar's still around."

"You do know that he was a Nightmare Pirate right?" Alex responded immediately, hoping to get Maree as far away from that kid as possible.

"But I always heard that the Nightmare Pirates were terrifying," Maree replied, astounded.

"In battle, yeah," Alexis reponded with a half-chuckle, "and you just picked a fight with the captain, Samui Sora."

"Cool, I hope he's good," Maree remarked off-handly, "he just seemed like an arrogant idiot to me."

"You are truly an idiot sometimes Maree," Alexis sighed shaking her head, "he has a bounty of 30,000,000 beli on his head. You realise that right?"

Maree was silent for a moment as she shook her head at Alexis before smiling mischievously at her friend and turning on her heel. Confused, Alex trailed her friend as they reached the village again and just kept going towards the docks when it all made sense to Alex. She ran in front of Maree and stopped, holding her friend in place and shaking her head.

"Are you insane?" Alexis asked through clenched teeth, "This is a real pirate we're talking about. I know you're good Marzy, but this is ridiculous."

"C'mon Alex, I just wanna fight him," Maree wheedled trying to break her friend's grip, "I'm not gonna break the law or anything."

"You're being ridiculous Maree, now cut this out," Alexis growled pushing her friend back towards the village.

"Hey you!" Maree yelled over Alexis' shoulder and Alex turned her head in horror to see Sora striding towards the village and Maree trying to get his attention, "Let's have a fight!"

Alexis was no chicken, she usually loved to join in on fights but this was nuts. Her friend was picking a fight with an actual pirate captain and it was not going to end well. Maree broke Alex's grip and strode towards the boy.

"I ask again, do you have any idea who you are talking to?" the young captain enquired looking at Maree curiously.

"Yeah, the captain of the Nightmare Pirates," Maree returned with a shrug, "Doesn't matter, I've had a bad day and you hold a lot of potential in fixing that."

"You've heard the rumours?"

"Yeah."

"And you still wish to fight?"

"Obviously."

The young captain's smile turned vicious as he gestured for her to follow him towards the forest near the village. Maree followed the boy, dumping the duffel bag she'd been carrying onto the ground as she went, leaving Alex to pick it up with a sigh.

"If you die because of your idiocy Maree I will hold no pity for you," Alexis yelled after her friend as the blonde girl from earlier appeared at Alex's shoulder and sighed.

"Is he at it again?" She asked looking at the idiotic pair. Alex sighed inwardly.

"To be fair Maree started it. She's just like that," Alex remarked turning to the girl, "Alexis Trivic by the way."

"Ami Rin. I'm the Shipwright for that idiot's crew," Ami laughed taking Alex's hand and shaking it, "I still can't believe that seventeen year old managed to recruit me. It was weird. Think your friend stands a chance?"

"If there's one thing I've learned over the years I've known that girl, it's not to underestimate her," Alexis returned good-naturedly, attempting to believe her own words.

Across the field, Maree and Sora had both taken up fighting positions - watching and assessing the other's stance in hopes of finding a weak spot. Sora moved first, ducking low before aiming high to be blocked by Maree who returned with a punch to the gut which was also deflected. The pair jumped away from each other and looked the other over. Sora and Maree both had devious smiles on their faces.

"You're not bad," Sora praised, "but why don't you draw your weapon?"

"I could ask you the same thing but from what I learned of you earlier, I have a pretty good guess," Maree returned, a glint appearing in the corner of her green eyes.

"And the guess would be?" Sora enquired politely.

"You're an arrogant tool and believe you can win without them," Maree responded matter-of-factly with an evil grin as the captain's face dropped.

He charged, throwing his fists at Maree as she attempted to block, missing a few which made contact with her arms and legs. She didn't want to kill the guy so she left her weapons holstered - only when she was serious would she draw them. In this situation it would be unnecessary and potentially lethal. She began her offensive, launching her own barrage of kicks and punches, trying to catch the captain off-guard. The pair leapt away from each other, both sustaining several bruises - Maree even had a trickle of blood falling from her nose. The captain smiled.

"If I drew my weapon, would you draw yours?" He queried curiously.

"Not likely," Maree responded immediately. The captain's grin grew as he drew the blade from its hilt and pointed at Maree, she responded with a condescending smile.

The captain charged as Maree cried out, the blade slashing through the air to make contact with the girl. The captain looked shocked as he continued the follow through for his attack as Maree swung wide and hit him in the face. The man fell to the floor and she stood over him, pinning his arms down with her feet and pointing one of her pistols at his forehead.

"I win," Maree chuckled, "And a bonus, I feel much better. No more random attacks for me. I'm swearing off of those until the next time I'm pissed."

"Maree you done?" Alex yelled from the edge of their battlefield, more shocked than anyone else on the field, as Maree began to walk to her friend stretching, "Cause we need to look into transport. Especially after what happened."

"I swear I thought that looking after a ship was easy!" Maree yelled back, "It's not my fault that we were caught in that storm either, that was unavoidable. If it weren't for me, that could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, yeah," Alex placated as they left the field where the captain was still lying on the ground, Ami approaching him from the side. She stopped by his side and helped him up, leaving him to collect the katana that he'd dropped. She smiled at the toppled captain.

"You could have won if you tried," Ami sighed, "Is there a reason you didn't?"

Sora stood, brushing himself off carefully, refusing to acknowledge his crew mate as he also smiled after the pair that was disappearing back the way they'd come.

"Hey!" He called after the two girls as their silhouettes barely visible in the distance, "You need a ship?"

"Yeah," Alex responded turning on her heel to face the captain and moving back towards the battlefield, "Why?"

"I might be able to help you with that," Sora responded with a smile to Ami's shock, "I could always do with more nakama."

"I pass on that suggestion," Maree responded, "just cause we fought doesn't mean I know you, let alone your goals. I have a goal I want to complete, if you don't match up to it then there's not a chance."

"Does it have anything to do with the Straw Hats?" Sora enquired with a smirk and Maree froze in her spot, "I saw your reaction to the wanted poster earlier."

"And what if it does?" Maree asked turning to face the captain.

"Then we have more in common than you might think," Sora insisted with a grand gesture, "Join my crew and we can chase the Straw Hats together."

"What do you intend to do when you find them?" Maree queried, challenging the captain surreptitiously as Alexis sighed.

"I will defeat Zoro," Sora stated, "I will prove once and for all that I am greater than he, and then I will challenge Milhawk to become the greatest swordsman in the world."

There was silence between the pair for a while as they measured each other up before she turned to Alexis with a grin that was quickly returned.

"Alex, I think I might join this crew," Maree said to her companion with a smile, "They want to beat the Straw Hats. You know that's my dream. Are you coming?"

"I just want to be a pirate," Alexis shrugged, "I've got to beat my brother somehow. Besides, you'd be hopeless without me."

Maree faced the two Nightmare Pirates square-on, the wind whipping her hair into her face as she smiled, walking towards them with Alex and responding with, "Looks like you've got yourself two new pirates."

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><p><strong>And there's chapter one. Please read and review. Feedback is always good. Cheers,<strong>

_**Artemis.**_


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